How do you train for a triathlon and work full time?

How do they do it?

I have been quiet for the past few months because I am working full time, more than full time. I actually participated in the San Diego International Triathlon in June. I did really well, but I think that was because I was training regularly and I didn't have a full time job. Fast forward to today. Since my 'taper' week before the race I have been working 40+ hour weeks. I know that some select people can train for triathlons, work full time, raise children, and keep their spouses happy, but I don't know how they pack all of that into 24 hours a day. I haven't worked full time since I started getting serious about training, now that I have to juggle, it is really challenging.

I'll go back to the race report. My results are here. I think it was one of my best races, I was closer to being in the top half of my age group than I have been since I started. The swim was great! If the course was measured correctly (which I find they rarely are) I was close to a 2 minute pace per 100 m that I swam. I can hardly do that in the pool, but I'll take it with my wetsuit. All I know is that I wasn't the last out of the water in my age group which is where I usually am. I am usually coming out of the water several minutes behind my group, this time it felt good because there were still bikes on the rack.

See the blue caps still in the water!

So I wasn't last in the swim, but then I felt the need to remove my chip in order to get my wetsuit off during transition. I thought I had a good transition until I was mounting the bike and someone noticed that I didn't have a chip - I had to go back! ugh! The bike ride in this race is basically a long steady climb and you have to do it twice. I had been training on some monster hills, so I wasn't intimidated. I wasn't the fastest, but I wasn't the slowest either. I was prepared and it was nice. T2 was uneventful, thank goodness, but I don't think that I ate anything. I wanted to keep up my momentum. I should have eaten something.

The run was LONG. It was a normal 10k, but the way the course was designed, we had to wind around the people on the short course. I think several people passed me. It wasn't my best run ever, but it was in my normal time range. I would love to participate in this race next year, just for a comparison. I thought it was a challenging course because most of the San Diego races aren't hilly. Next year I will be in the midst of training for my first half-Ironman if all goes well and this will be a good test for me.

At the finish line!

Back to training. I signed on for a full time consulting position in Salt Lake City, for 3-4 months, it looks like it might last for 5 months. I am in SLC as we speak. I like training at altitude and I think overall it will benefit me, but I don't think I am training enough. I am running 2-3 times a week, swimming twice a week and biking once a week. I don't have a normal routine because some days I have to get up at 4 am to get to work by 5. Other days I have to stay at work for a 5:45pm meeting. You don't have to tell me it's crazy. I swim in the evenings when I can and I run on the other days. There are beautiful pools here. The firefighter and I found a great outdoor pool with 50m lanes. We loved it, but I think there are only 2-3 more weeks where we can really swim outside. I see snow in my future. We live right across the street from a wonderful urban park with a 1.5 mile loop. I have been running 3 loops regularly after work, but it is as flat as a pancake. The beach might offer more elevation changes. I have worked in some hills, but since I live in the city it is not pleasant at all. The biking is spectacular. There are a lot of biking enthusiasts here. We have been riding challenging routes and I feel like it is good for us, but I can't get on the bike enough to feel like it is really helping I have noticed that I am a much slower. I hope that I can complete this gig and get back home so that I can get back to Masters swim, circuit training and really challenging bike rides on Sunday with the girls. For those of you that can juggle life and training, I congratulate you! We'll see how the results are for my race next weekend. Hopefully I will get time in the next few weeks to send an update.

Oh - did you notice that I am planning to participate in a Half Ironman next year? It's the Soma Half Ironman in Arizona. My training buddies and I finally committed to a race and it will be in October 2015. I hope for no injuries between now and then.

If you have a good way to juggle responsibilities and training, send your tips here. I love to hear from efficient people.

One step forward, Two steps back

Spring Sprint 2014

My group and I participated in the Spring Sprint in Mission Bay, San Diego last weekend. I don't know how to describe my performance at this last competition, I am happy that I completed the race. I knew that my legs didn't have any spring in them at the running portion of the race, but I have been training for a few months now and I felt like I should have improved over the last time I competed on this course. Maybe they changed the course and it wasn't all about me.

At this race, the group arrived super early, the transition area wasn't even open when we parked. I opted to just stay in the car until the line of bikes dissipated. We got our transition areas situated. No fighting over spaces on the rack this time, thank goodness. The super competitive people must have been going to half IM and IM races. Then we hung out for an hour. I didn't get to drink my smoothie. The top wasn't secure and I spilled half of it right under the rack, it kind of ruined my appetite and then there was smoothie all over my hands and the ground. We covered it with a plastic bag so that others could place their things on top of it. I am not sure why it spilled there, because it wasn't really near my bike and I wasn't moving my stuff at that stage in the game. This could be the key to my poor performance, I didn't really have much breakfast.

I ate a banana right before they closed the transition area off to all competitors. The swim was pretty non-eventful, for once, until I got out of the water. I felt like I couldn't see well, but I ignored it this time trying to focus on swimming while I was in the water. I was actually with my group when we exited to transition. That was a first for me and it felt good. Unfortunately the whole way I was hitting another woman and when she moved to my other side, I still continued to hit her. We must have been swimming exactly the same pace, she couldn't pass me and I couldn't pass her. When I got out of the water, I realized that I couldn't see out of my right eye. I stayed calm. I got to transition and looked in my goggles. My contact was in there. This time I didn't fool around with my goggles at all, so there was a chance that it wasn't lost. I put my contact back in, ate a gel and went about my business. My transition time was terrible. One of the worst times in the race, but at least I could see.

I started the bike thinking that I had a flat tire. I was so angry. It turned out that I didn't have a flat, I just worried about it the whole way. The bike portion was only 10 miles, so I just kept hoping that I would make it through. I took one quick drink during the bike and someone passed me that shouldn't have, so I didn't take any more drinks. That could have been another mistake. I'm not sure.

I made it back to T2 and quickly changed into my shoes. That transition was much better. One of the best ones in my wave. I started running and my legs felt tired. I only took a quick sip of my drink this time. I didn't take a gel like I should have, probably another mistake. I tried to run as fast as I could, but I knew it wasn't fast but I focussed on passing people the whole way, as usual. I had no idea how fast I was going since I don't wear a watch. That's something else I need to change. I will get a watch for my birthday, even if I have to get it for myself.

Courtesy of Limugirl

At the end of the run, I sprinted the last 100 meters. It felt good and I had a lot of support that day, including all of the Herev people. It was my first time wearing the Tri kit and it felt good. The firefighter was there along with his sister, her husband and a close friend of mine came to cheer me on. We went to brunch, I took a long nap and we had a great afternoon.

Post Race Smiles

Overall, I can't be overly happy with my time. There were plenty of people with slower bikes and runs that beat me because of the long first transition. I am pledging to go to masters swim twice a week to work on my swimming and I need to do a little more running practice. I am in decent shape on the bike. My next goal is to be in the top half of my age group. I missed it by 2 spots this time. So close...
The next race on the schedule is the San Diego International on June 29. I have 8 weeks to train for that. More running and swimming for me.

Lessons learned: Nutrition is important before and during the race, don't mess with the goggles too much, and get a watch.

Master's Swim for Dummies

 

  I finally tried the masters swim class at my local YMCA.  It was no joke!  After overcoming my fear of the old guys (70+) trying to talk to me and get me to share their lane and the lifeguard warning me that the slow lane was occupied by a really slow swimmer, I decided to jump in at the urging of the Firefighter.
     The really slow swimmer was an older guy (60+).  I found out quickly that I was much slower than the advertised really slow swimmer.  He did have on fins, so maybe I wasn't that bad (actually I was that bad), I was so slow.  At least the Firefighter was nice enough to join me in the lane.  They both lapped me several times.  It was embarrassing, but I did finish part of the workout.
     My problem isn't that I am out of shape, I probably could have continued to swim after the hour that I struggled with the workout, my problem is that I don't have good form.  Swimming would probably be a lot easier if I knew what I was doing.  I just swim to get to the end of the lap so that I can pop up and breathe. I didn't do the warm up - that would have killed me, but the actual program for the day was rough.  I only finished 2 of the 5 segments.  Everyone was leaving when I finished segment number 2 and it took me the full hour to swim about a mile.
     Have you ever been to a masters swim workout?  Did you participate in the swim team in your younger years?  I was not on the swim team and I have only worked out in the pool on my own.  Once I tried to learn how to flip at the end of the lane and that was a disaster.  I haven't tried it since.
     One of the best ways to improve is to invest in some coaching - professionals have coaches.  For my wallet, I guess masters swim will have to do for now.
     When do you feel like you can work out with a group and not hold the others back? When do you feel like it is even worth it to get coaching, what level do you feel you need to be at? This could be for running, swimming, biking or even golf or yoga. I felt like I had to get over my embarrassment and my old immature motto in my track days of ABL, 'anything but last'. In the swimming department it looks like I will be last for a while. I just need to stick with it. I know I will improve with consistency, even if I am last.

Desert Triathlon - was it a success?

I completed the Desert Triathlon in Palm Springs, CA a few weekends ago. It was my first International distance triathlon and it was a good weekend, the weather was beautiful, my husband was there and I met a lot of cool people. Successful? I don't know, it all depends on your definition of success. Did I complete the competition? Yes. Did I meet my time goal? Almost. Compared to last year when I had my first DNF, this was obviously better. I am in much better condition than I was at this point last year and I learned a lot from the weekend. As you can see, my training group has dwindled, but we are spirited! We'll get to lessons learned later on.

Let's review the race. This International distance race had a 3/4 mile swim, a 24 mile bike, and a 10k run. The open water swim was in a shallow, man-made lake, there were no waves except from the other competitors. My wave was pretty large, the entire field of women 40-49 started in the same wave. I have no desire to get to the front of any swimming wave, so I let the real competitors take it out at the start. I was slow and steady, I started to feel good after about 500m. My sighting was excellent, I stayed right on line with all of the buoys, so I didn't swim any extra distance. The only issue with swimming close to the buoys is that when the men's waves caught up to me, they just swam over me, especially when they were trying to get back to the correct side of the buoys. I just sat up for a split second and let them pass. This was my first swim where I didn't have to stop to take a breath to look around and gather myself, I felt pretty confident. The other tricky spot was the end of the swim where everyone sees the finish and starts to swim faster. I just maintained my pace, so it was a little unnerving trying to get to T1. The first transition was difficult for me. I was able to get everything off while I was running to my bike, except for my wetsuit. I finally had to sit down to get the wetsuit off over my timing chip. I hate sitting down in a transition. Anyway, I finally got the suit off and everything else on for the bike and I had a gel and some water/gatorade. The bike started off smoothly, my right foot was asleep, but I am not sure if it was because the water was cold or if it just didn't want to cooperate - it didn't really affect me at that point. Apparently, I had my bike in the correct gear. The start was on a steep uphill and I saw a guy almost fall down. People didn't have shoes on and others couldn't use their pedals properly. This must have been a stroke of luck for me, I even passed a few people who promptly passed me once they got going. The bike route was very flat, it was two loops in a valley near the lake. I was able to drink water without slowing down too much and I ate about half of my shot blocks. I was also comfortable enough to get down in my aero bars for about 1/3 of the distance. I didn't think that would be possible because I knew that there could be cars on the route and I am not super steady in my aero bars yet. I passed a few people, but I got passed by many more. There were a couple of large groups that went by me, there was no way for me to keep up with them. T2 was a lot easier, very routine. I drank some gatorade, had another gel and I was on my way. My right foot was still asleep, but I was just moving forward at that point. My plan was to pace myself for the first half of the run and then just run as fast as I could the second loop. The plan worked, my regained the feeling in my foot and I was passing runners the entire way.  I got passed by one person in the last quarter mile, but that wasn't so bad in the big scheme. I felt good the entire race and I finished with a smile.

What did I learn? I used the information that I learned from so many mentors in the last year. Get your good night's sleep the night before the night before the race. I stayed up watching a movie the night before. It didn't matter since I didn't sleep anyway. Make sure your nutrition is on point. We ate lots of carbs the 2 days before the race. Learn how to hydrate, this was important since this race was in the desert. We hydrated too much, thus being unable to sleep the night before - constantly getting up to urinate was not cool. I was up going to the bathroom 4-5 times. Consume calories during the race - either eat them or drink them. I was able to consume the gels and a cliff bar, so I did well. I know that I need to start breathing on both sides during the swim - my sighting was good, but my neck was sore from constantly looking in the same direction. The other thing I learned was that if you hydrate and consume calories during the race it is a lot easier to recover. It was taking me 2-3 days to recover from the sprints that I competed in previously - this one, I was fine the next day. Also it seemed like the international distance was less of an impact on my body since it was longer. I definitely paced myself. I found that in the sprints I am going all out the entire race. I wasn't all that sore after this race. Lastly, relax and have fun!

The end results weren't exactly what I wanted, but I know what I need to do in terms of training. My goal was 3 hours. I finished in 3:00:15. I want to get to where I can finish in the top half of my age group. Apparently, as I increase in race distance, the competition gets even harder. I need to work at it. The next few weeks I'll be deciding what to focus on for the next several months. It might get serious about master swim, or I might concentrate on training for a half marathon, there are lots of races in Southern California so I won't be hurting for opportunities. We'll see.

What do you consider a success when it comes to competitions?

Training buddies are the Best!

I finally got a training group! This is all thanks to my friend's super outgoing husband. Apparently, he coerced talked all of us into signing up for a triathlon. We registered for the Esprit de She Sprint Triathlon in San Diego. I had the best results that I have ever had. I was confident going into the competition and finished strong. This felt so much better after my DNF at the Encinitas Triathlon this year.

Pre-race happy and dry picture

Every race has its own story, in this one I lost a contact in the swim portion of the race and completed the triathlon with basically one eye.  I am practically blind and can only see blocks of color without glasses.  During the swim, I had to stop at each buoy and sight the next buoy in order to get to the end. Thank goodness the swim was cut to only 400m due to foggy weather.

Post Race Celebration!!!! (notice my mimosa in hand)

So, back to the point. I have three training partners, each with their own skills and talents. I wouldn't trade them for anything. I started working out with them right after Labor Day 2013. We trained together for about 6 weeks. I think that 3 of the 4 of us were nervous to train with other people. I know that I was very nervous. It was the first triathlon for two of the four of us. One of us has had athletic sponsorships in the past. I just work out for fun, but I secretly want to do well. Our schedules coordinated perfectly so that we could work out together a few times a week. We swam in Mission Bay on Fridays and Sundays and we would bike during the week. We would run on our own and cross train with Yoga when we had time. We would also bring our husbands when they were all around. One weekend we did some stand up paddle boarding after the swim instead of biking. It was a lot of fun!

I usually take a break after a big race, so I took about 4 weeks off after the triathlon and enjoyed Thanksgiving, while waiting for a contact lens replacement.  We have been biking sporadically and going to yoga together since then.  We plan to start strength training in late January and start the swimming and biking in earnest in the next few weeks.  We bike on Fridays with the wonderful women at HERevolution. We are registered for the Desert Triathlon in March.

We'll see what 2014 brings.  My goal is to stick to a training plan.

What keeps you from working out with friends?  What suggestions do you have for sticking to a training plan?

The Dreaded Brick Workout!

     I am trying to take my triathlon results to the next level, with a goal of not being at the back of the pack in my age group.  Part of that is challenging myself in workouts.  I have gotten very comfortable working out by myself and I need to push myself more.  I have been taking some spin classes, but they aren't always challenging and I prefer to exercise outdoors.  Every once in a while I will go running with the Firefighter, which is always fun when he wants to run the same distance - we really push each other for the last couple hundred meters, the rivalry has become an obvious one so that other people on the beach start cheering at us.  I have been reluctant to join one of the local running groups, I am not sure why - surely there is someone running my pace that I can also talk to during the run.  My training has been going well this year and I need to step it up if I don't want to be last in my age group.  This past weekend I completed a 'Brick' workout.  This is a triathlon training exercise where you perform two of the  three disciplines consecutively.  I did the bike/run portion.  This is the worst!  I have dreaded it so much that I have never done a brick workout - ever.  When you complete your first triathlon and you haven't done this for practice you will know what I am describing.

     When you get off of your bike, you feel good because you are off of the bike, but once you start to run, your legs feel like jelly or something, the feeling is actually very hard to describe.  This is totally disconcerting if the run is your strength.  Hello!  You can't move and it's not that you are out of breath, your legs just don't work right, but you keep moving because if you don't you will never finish the race (and you are half delirious at this point anyway). I think at this point in the race you are running on pure adrenalin anyway.

     After being laid up with a cold or the flu or something that has lasted for about 10 days, I could finally breathe freely so I decided to once and for all to do the brick workout.  The weather was fine - as it always is here in San Diego - and I have a morning where I am not doing anything else.  I made myself some bacon for breakfast and got ready.  I packed my Camelbak, prepared my bike, and set out my running shoes.  My goal was to find out how it felt after riding the 12 miles of the sprint triathlon.  I rode 12 miles down and back on Coast Highway and changed my shoes, drank some water and took a Gu all in 3 minutes. That's a pretty good transition speed, especially with running up and down the stairs to the house and looking at the dogs for a quick second.

     Once I started the run, I felt awful, just like in a race, but I knew that I needed to do this.  I decided to do a short run of about 2 miles.  I ran down to Moonlight beach and back and an extra time around the block.  It felt super slow, but I know that mentally it will help me in the long run.  Maybe I will do this another time, to augment my training.

     The next challenge is the Master's swim class.  I know it will be another adventure, it was the first time!  More to come on that in the near future.

What kinds of workouts do you find the most challenging?

Cardiff Kook Run

Winning Entry - Courtesy of Encinitas Patch

Hey!
I got my Kook on during the Cardiff Kook Run 2013!  Well, maybe I didn't completely get my Kook on - I did not dress up for the annual costume run, but I did complete the 5k portion of the race.  The Firefighter was working, so he did not participate this year.  Maybe next year he will run it with me and we can do the 10k, now that's a goal.

This is a great, scenic racecourse that parallels the Pacific Ocean through Encinitas and Cardiff, California.  You get to see the real surfers surfing and all of the people dressed up as whatever they want to be, fantastic!  I actually walked up the hill with one of the members of the Magic Carpet ride group entry that won, pictured above.  Very cool.  Their group was wearing turbans and Middle Eastern wear and they fashioned cardboard surfboards, posed as the kook and the best part was that they were actually dancing along with the music that they were blasting through speakers.  "What song?" you ask.  Of course it was 'Magic Carpet Ride' performed by Steppenwolf!  It was my theme song and motivation throughout the run.   I was actually near many of the groups when they got their pictures taken.  I got there almost 2 hours early, so I debated walking back home and taking a nap, but it was a beautiful morning, no reason to sleep through the start.  I had a lot of time to soak in the atmosphere and warm up several times.

This event makes Superbowl day a lot of fun.  You get up early, run the race, go home, take a shower and maybe a nap and then get ready for the Superbowl party and you know you can eat whatever you want - and if you happen to get a hangover, the next day is usually a rest day, so it won't matter.  I had a low key party this year - I hung out with my friend D and during the infamous black out (#toobadfornola) we finalized the wedding details.  How is that for efficiency!  By the way, the wedding is in less than 2 weeks, training for this race definitely helped to reduce stress levels.

So, here are the results.  My goal was somewhere in the 25 minute range, I didn't quite make it and I really wanted to walk towards the end, but I didn't.  26:16 - not too bad for the first race of the year and considering all of the families with strollers and walkers that I had to go around.  By my rough count, I got 3rd in my age group - I can not remember the last time that happened.  I heard a lot of grumbling about the course this year, I did practice on the exact race route, not intentionally, so I have no excuse.  There were more hills than last year and the 10k participants unfortunately had to run the back half of the race uphill - motivation to run more hills next year.

Here's my bling from the race!

Now it's time to get serious about triathlon training.  The Encinitas Triathlon is in May, 3 short months away.